'Pokémon Go' still isn't available in the biggest mobile game market in the world — here's why

"Pokémon Go" is the most popular mobile game in the world. China
is the largest mobile gaming market, and the most populous
country on Earth.

Bizarrely, the most popular mobile game in the
world isn't available in China. Huh?

More
like "Pokémon No."AP Photo/Nati
Harnik

The game also isn't available in South Korea, the
fourth largest market in the world for mobile gaming. So, what
gives?

Surprisingly, it's because of Google and the way that "Pokémon
Go" is so tightly integrated with Google's services. First and
foremost, you login to "Pokémon Go" using Google:

You can also join the Pokémon Trainer
Club.The Pokémon
Company

But even if you circumvent that with a Pokémon Trainer Club
login, the game itself relies on Google Maps data to power the
game's maps. But Google Services doesn't operate in China. As of
November 2012, China officially blocks all Google Services. This
is the so-called "Great Firewall" of China: a means of
censoring the internet deployed by the Chinese government.

In this case, the Great Firewall is keeping out Pikachu — and
keeping the game's creator, Niantic Labs, from earning millions
in the largest gaming market in the world.

"'Pokémon Go' relies on Google Services for the game to run
correctly," Daniel Ahmad, a Chinese games industry analyst with
Niko Partners, told Business Insider in an email exchange. "The
game itself uses Google Maps as the game world and all the
various Pokéstops/Gyms are stored in Google servers."

The kind of screens you might see if you're trying to
log in from a place where Google Services are
blocked.The Pokémon
Company

In short: Since "Pokémon Go" is an online-only game, and one
that's dependent on Google Services functioning to do literally
anything, it isn't heading to China anytime soon.

Chinese gamers aren't ignorant of the game's existence, of
course.

An online survey conducted by Niko Partners, an analytics firm
that specializes in the Chinese gaming market, found that people
were taking to dubious workarounds for getting "Pokémon Go"
working in China.
Here's what the survey found (emphasis ours):

"Within two days of the global launch of the iOS version we
surveyed consumers to see whether they know the game 'Pokémon
Go.' This was a self-selecting survey, meaning we did not have
any screening criteria for participants. If they wanted to
answer, they could answer.

Within a couple of days we had 350 respondents. Of those, more
than 60% said they know of the game. In addition, 48% said they
have tried to play the official game via convoluted efforts.
Only 11% of the 350 said they were able to play, and 37%
said they were not able to despite their efforts."

The "convoluted efforts" noted here primarily consist of using a
service called a "VPN" ("virtual private network") that acts as a
virtual mask, hiding the true location of your device.

You log in to it, and then you log into the internet through it,
thus subverting any gates you'd normally encounter on your local
internet connection. People use services like this to, say, watch
Netflix in a country where it isn't offered. But a VPN can also
be used to play online games. Alas, even with a VPN, there are
other issues that Chinese gamers will face — with no Google Maps
data available for parts of China, it's possible that no
PokéStops or Gyms will be anywhere nearby.

A
glitch caused one region of South Korea to populate Pokémon in
"Pokémon Go." These dudes were pumped about
it.Lee
Jong-hun/Yonhap/AP

South Korea faces a similar issue with "Pokémon Go," albeit for
different reasons.

Google and the South Korean government are in a protracted battle
over access to the country's map data. The South Korean
government cites security reasons, specifically regarding North
Korea, for not granting access. Google calls it preferential
treatment for the South Korean mapping companies that lead the
market there.

As the the
Wall Street Journal explains, "Google’s domestic Korean
rivals, Naver and Kakao Corp., only use government-supplied maps
that already have had sensitive installations blurred or
camouflaged. Google representatives contend that the
national-security laws in South Korea unfairly benefit local
competitors in the country of about 50 million people. The
government maintains that national security is the laws’ sole
purpose."

In the case of South Korea, the fourth largest gaming market in
the world (by revenue according
to Newzoo), Niantic could create a workaround: use another
mapping service. Partnering with Naver or Kakao could solve the
issue, though it may also require a tremendous amount of work.